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Background & aims: Roots are of paramount importance in protecting grassland in numerous ecosystem services e.g. soil organic matter build-up. However, studies that quantified root biomass in grasslands predominantly focused on areas managed less intensively than the management that is common to most North-West European grassland-based farms. To fill this knowledge gap, we compared, root and stubble biomass, the distribution in the soil and root diameter classes of five common European forage grass species grown under intensive management. Methods: On a 3 year old trial comparing yield of five cool season forage grass species at two N fertilization levels (190 kg N ha−1 yr−1 or 300 kg N ha−1 yr−1) we sampled root and stubble biomass until a depth of 90 cm deep. Results: Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) displayed the highest root and stubble biomass and had the highest mean root diameters of all studied grass species. The total dry biomass below cutting height (stubble + roots up to a depth of 90 cm below the soil surface) varied between 18 and 19 tonnes ha−1 for tall fescue and 10 and 11 tonnes ha−1 for Festulolium at 190 kg N ha−1 yr−1 and 300 kg N ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize that in intensively managed grassland, root and stubble biomass under a 3 years old sward can be as high as 19 t DM ha−1. Owing to the high forage and root biomass of tall fescue, this species has a high potential in maintaining several ecosystem services

Performance and quality of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and mixtures of both species grown with or without white clover (Trifolium repens L.) under cutting management Abstract There is increasing interest in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) in Western Europe and elsewhere, mainly because of its better drought resistance and yield potential compared with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Important drawbacks of tall fescue, compared with perennial ryegrass, are its lower digestibility and voluntary intake. Mixtures of both species might combine the advantages of each, and species interactions may eventually lead to transgressive overyielding. We compared the agronomic performance of tall fescue, perennial ryegrass and tall fescue-perennial ryegrass mixtures, as pure-grass swards or in association with white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Tall fescue-perennial ryegrass mixtures differed in the proportion and ploidy of the perennial ryegrass component. Yield, feed quality and botanical composition were measured in the 3 years after the sowing year. We found significant effects of ploidy of the ryegrass variety and of the proportion of ryegrass in the initial seed mixture on the botanical composition of the swards. Nevertheless, all swards were dominated by tall fescue at the end of the experiment. No overyielding of the mixtures compared with that of singlespecies swards was found, but feed quality was intermediate between that of the single-species swards. Mixed swards had better drought resistance than L. perenne and higher feeding quality than F. arundinacea swards.

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